The knowledge of the new "X Rays" discovered by Wilhelm Konrad
Roentgen in late 1895 spread with amazing rapidity. He published the phenomena
and their interpretation promptly, and the first X rays in this country
were made early the next year. As it turns out, anyone with a discharge
tube excited by an Induction
Coil had already been generating X rays!

The picture above shows an instructor at the Kenyon Military
Academy making an X ray of his hand ca. 1905. Note the complete lack of
shielding.